Getting past the glitch in Sonar recording software just in time for the party sing-along

Blue Christmas practice - Debbie Proud, Paula Boute and Diane Ogg practice before recording (photo Wayne Larkin Facebook)

Studio Diary Part 3 – The “n0-sound-recording-in-Sonar” problem had us perplexed on Friday but we got it fixed in time for the singers who were arriving Saturday night for the Christmas party.

Windows sound was blocking recording and once it was fixed everything went smoothly.

The frustration reported in Blue Christmas diary Thursday struggle in the studio didn’t get to me. I would simply work out a plan and fix it.

Friday I had to put the project aside for a client who wanted help setting up a new website for his music business.

When my friend arrived Friday afternoon, we had 2 more sets of headphones. We still couldn’t record. We got his takes on the Zoom R16 again. The Zoom is a nice recorder but hasn’t got dynamics of recording on Sonar, when it works.

Still, I refused to let it get me down and went to Churchill Arms for fish and chips anyway. It was Friday after all. 
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Setting the default recording driver

Lynx AES16 sound Card made default in Windows 7

(If you’re not a geek, skip to next tab) Saturday morning I read every bit of documentation on the audio channel and recording with Sonar.

Then I mapped out a checklist of each step and started with turning on the computer. Everything checked out until the recording part. Dang no sound.

There was a FAQ on the Cakewalk Sonar site recommending checking the Windows Volume Mixer. Microsoft hides that on Windows 7 under Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, Devices and Printers.

The audio card shows up as a speaker. Clicking on the audio card, right click for Sound Settings there is a tab for Recording. It was set to the internal audio card, which had been disabled for the Lynx Studios AES16 card. I disabled the driver for the internal card and made the AES16 the default device. (See note at end)

The Lynx AES16 is a PCI computer card that runs 16 channels of audio in and out of the Lynx Aurora 16, a AD/DA converter that can process 16 channels at 196 kHz.

That worked instantly. Wow, was I happy. Just to check my suspicions I played Windows Media Player and ran the Find and Fix Audio Recording Problems. In both cases Windows 7 tried to re-install the disabled driver for the motherboard audio. I’ll have to figure that one out.

Joy is being able to record. I played with the system for hours after that, until it was time to get ready for the party.
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Party time recording

The Christmas Party was an extended version of our monthly blues jam. By the time it was in full swing, there were 10 musicians jamming in the studio having a great time.

Xmas Blues Jam before recording (photo Wayne Larkin Facebook)

Diane Ogg and Wayne MacKinnon lined up the volunteers to record Blue Christmas while the boys in the band jammed merrily on some great tunes. Nothing like a party to get some volunteers.

With only 4 headphones, we could record 3 people at a time so that’s how it was done – two sets of three singers who had never sung together before.

We played the backing track from Thursday night and after 3 or 4 passes turned on the recorder and video camera.

The U87 mic could easily pick up three people. There was a bit of a problem trying to keep the party noise from bleeding  into the recording but that will make it more realistic.

It was priceless. People who said they couldn’t sing got into the swing of it. They enjoyed themselves and gave us some great video and audio for the Blue Christmas video.

Sunday was a much needed day of rest from a long and fun Christmas party. Monday we would be back at recording Blue Christmas though.
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Note on Lynx drivers

The Lynx AES16 drivers don’t show up as an audio device which makes it doubly hard to fix the problem. For some reason, the card is listed as “USB Compatible Device.” It was only by right clicking I discovered it was the audio card. I’ve sent that issue to Lynx Studios for a fix.
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